<<Soon to be a tv moguL>>
She has graced magazine covers and has been on numerous tv shows.She goes by the name Dineo Ranaka.She is no stranger to controversy and early this year we saw her leaving Yfm..Her fans were disappointed including us because we loved her take on life hence her afternoon drive was different and unique from the array we have on our radios.After Yfm she open her own clothing lable 'love dr',she has her own reality tv show on Vuzu tv 'Dineos Diary' and she also co-presents Club808 on etv with Mo-flava...We truly love Dineo and her killer fashion sense...

Monday, July 2, 2012

Elegantly slender,smooth Ivory skinned long legged beauties with long,gleaming manes of hair are a common sight in Joburg and every other great city. These ladies look like clones,almost as if they've walked straight out of a mass production factory somewhere in the CBD. This I find disturbing,no not because of their beauty (let's leave my insecurities out of this) but because of the extremes they go to look this way.

These ladies were not all born with ivory skin nor were they born with the long hair or the slender figures...they bought these things to enhance their beauty,although in reality,these things are actually harming them!

Skin lightening creams lighten skin by causing a chemical reaction that blocks melanocytes, the skin cells that give your skin its pigmentation,resulting in a very light in completion,giving the user of the cream the results they expected but with horrible long term effects.

The skin becomes very sensitive and the harsh environmental elements it is now exposed to,since it was stripped of its protective melanocytes,causing it to break out in clusters of itchy pimples,which will leave horrible scarring ,darkening of the skin will also happen,leaving you worse off than you thought you were before.

The weaves these ladies attach to their hair cause great damage to their natural hair. The tight plaiting done to secure the weave actually places strain on the hair follicle,which can result in permanent hair loss.

Why would anyone subject themselves to such torture in order to look a certain way? Is the reason behind these actions simply beauty or is it because these
ladies don't feel like equals to their white counterparts and think that looking like them is a step closer to feeling equal to them ? Could it be that these ladies feel oppressed by their dark skin and lighten it to feel liberated? Could this be their rebellion against memories of racial discrimination? Or to break free of the shackles that restrict self expression that our ancestors wore for centuries? Do they think dark skin is ugly and that by lightening it,they will feel beautiful?that's offensive to black people who are comfortable in their skins,like me and you.
However these women are individuals with their own different reasons for their beauty routines,not all of them necessarily connected to oppression .

These ladies do these things to themselves to feel beautiful,to feel confident and to be proud of the way they look,they do these things to stand out. They put effort into their appearance as they realise how much value society puts on appearances. These ladies are simply exercising their constitutional right to Self Expression and have no ideas of betraying their African roots. It is simply their choice.

Have you heard that Nicki Minaj is designing a line of clothes for adidas? Did you known that Kanye West has his own clothing line...and it costs more than a map to heaven? Have you read that TuPac came back to life and designed skinny jeans for Mr Price?? (okay,okay that's a lie,but I got you didn't I?) Are you even aware that every celebrity that either has a failing music career or is the hottest thing right now has branched out into fashion design? Why though? These people don't have any skills with a sewing machine,they can't even tell the difference between leather and pleather. These people aren't qualified to be designing clothes,let alone drawing sketches! Would you allow a gardener to operate on you? No right,so why do they allow these ' 'musicians' to design?? The clothes they design aren't even wonderful,have you seen one of Nicki Minaj's designs? They look like a rainbow vomited on them. Even Julius Malema can do better. I could diss their clothes all day but let's get to the point,I strongly feel that musicians who start designing clothes are stealing Job opportunities from talented,qualified fashion graduates who need the money and the chance to wow the world with their innovation! These are people who should be dressing us and not people who already have more than enough money and fame as it is. I believe these celebs are being selfish and cruel. They should go back to holding singing the blues and stop creating blue dresses.

Lime green,orange and pink are colours best left for 1980's spandex-filled exercise videos and go-go dancing tights right? Wrong,way wrong. Fur has been around for ages in the fashion world and its quite a classy classic when worn right unless you're going for the pimp look,which we wouldn't regard as a fashion statement hey. As classic as fur is,it can look a bit too much when paired with modern day clothes like a pair of jeans and heels...this is the part where neon comes to the rescue. Neon colours on fur are a quirky and fun twist,jazzing up your look and giving your coat a modern revival while helping you keep up to date with the latest trends. Fur is also quite warm,giving you the option of rocking a seriously stylish outfit in the atlantic,which I wouldn't advise you to do...But a lot of people(including me) are afraid of fur,let alone neon fur,and PETA isn't the only reason we're afraid. Fur is a fashion risk,one you either pull off perfectly or end up with a fuax-paus,no in-betweens here. Then you have the added stress of having it in a neon,bright,attention grabbing colour...which can scare any confident fashionista half to death. I would advise that it be worn with minimal accessories,simple makeup and sexy,no-fuss hair so that the coat can do the talking(screaming is the more appropriate term here) But its a worthy risk if you ask me,it looks good and sets you two paces ahead of other stylish folk. It also looks fun and I would recommend that you guys experiment with the neon fur trend. Brighten up your wardrobe and your day with this trend,go forth and fur diem.